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[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

In a statement published on X, CEO Koen Deetman and managing director Paul Deetman said the Netherlands-based studio was forced into the decision after exhausting all possible options for completing planned projects or taking on other work.

KeokeN announced in February that it had laid off four of its core team of 19, after its founders took pay cuts and went without salaries for “the past few months”.

And in March, the studio revealed it had unsuccessfully pitched five games to 40 publishers in more than 200 meetings over the previous two years.

“Heartbroken, we’ve had to lay off our team at KeokeN because of nothing substantial materializing directly after our visit to GDC,” reads today’s statement. “We’ve unfortunately exhausted all our possible options for publishing, work for hire, and co-development.

“It is our utmost priority to make sure our lovely team finds a new home somewhere else, so if you have any positions available in Programming, Tech Art, Porting, Level Design, Audio, Animation, Production, Office Management, contact us, so that we can introduce you to the very best people who have been at the heart of KeokeN over the past 10 years.

“Paul and I are heavily beat, but far from beaten. It’s our personal mission to rebuild KeokeN brick by brick like we’ve done before, in the name of our people and to continue the legacy of our games.

“Personally, we are preparing a Kickstarter soon for our much-anticipated Deliver Us Home. This is one small step for KeokeN, one giant leap for Delivering Us Home. A game we will build for you and with you.”

It was announced last week that Deliver Us the Moon will be released for Nintendo Switch “soon”.

Deliver Us Mars studio KeokeN has laid off its whole team | VGC

Its founders say they hope to rebuild the company “brick by brick”…

www.videogameschronicle.com

 

[Denton]

Both Moon and Mars were great storydriven games.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

Seems a lot of these companies take the PS+ money right before laying everyone off or closing up shop.

 

[sloppyjoe_gamer]

From reviews, it seemed to be that Moon was great, but Mars was only ok

 

[HL3.exe]

Friend of mine got laid off there.

It didn't go quite as 'kind' as the article describes.

 

[Krafter]

I Platinumed Moon, bought Mars but have not played it yet. Sad to see them go. It's a shame that PS Plus / Game Pass is not enough to keep teams afloat. I don't want being bought out to be the only option for smaller teams.

 

[yurinka]

Never heard about them before, but I wish them luck.

 

[Flabagast]

I had the impression Mars was not very good and did not buy it (whereas I quite liked Moon).

Was I wrong ?

 

[Magic Carpet]

From reviews, it seemed to be that Moon was great, but Mars was only ok

I really liked Moon.
but
The Mars family drama I was unable finish. Maybe it got better much later on?
I like these types of 'games' so it's sad to see they might disappear.

 

[lh032]

im not talking about the devs or this studio, but the first time i saw the trailer for both of these games , i dont understand what is the actual gameplay, and it looks boring.

I guess these type of games doesnt get alot of attention from most gamers out there.

 

[AJUMP23]

Tough to build something and lose funding and see it die.

 

[Denton]

I had the impression Mars was not very good and did not buy it (whereas I quite liked Moon).

Was I wrong ?

I liked Mars slightly more. It is more directly character driven which I prefer. Main character's dad was voiced by Astarion from BG3 and I actually liked him more here. And it looks great for an indie game.

 

[GHG]

It's a shame that gamepass couldn't save them.

While it may be worth a look if it ever makes it to Game pass I cannot recommend buying this. The Moon was delivered successfully, but Mars can go back where it came from.

Review | Deliver Us Mars

I really enjoyed playing Deliver Us The Moon back in Twenty-Twenty. The sense of quiet isolation was palpable as I explored supposedly abandoned lunar

xboxera.com

 

[Skifi28]

Do we have any sales numbers for Mars? Anecdotally, many people I know bought it (including me) and I would imagine a game made by 20 people or so didn't have an AAA budget that needed millions to make money.

 

[kiphalfton]

Friend of mine got laid off there.

It didn't go quite as 'kind' as the article describes.

I bet.

They paint this picture, so the company doesn't look bad.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Do we have any sales numbers for Mars? Anecdotally, many people I know bought it (including me) and I would imagine a game made by 20 people or so didn't have an AAA budget that needed millions to make money.

Lower numbers than Deliver us the Moon that's for sure. The thing is that Deliver us Mars was just added into the PS+ Extra game catalog for this month so the situation must have been very dire if they had to close down even with the bump in revenue coming from that deal.

 

[Solarstrike]

One of the few games (Deliver Us the Moon) I pitched in for Kickstarter. Great game which I need to finish on the backlog. Devs will be ok, lots of talent there and it shows greatly in the game(s). Keep your head up guys and gals at KoekeN!

 

[nikolino840]

No one comment about the gdc ? Where they make business the devs now that even the e3 is closed?

 

[Cert.in.Death]

Interesting as proofs of concept. But I was a bit mixed in my experience with their final products.

The market is savage right now. But not anything and everything under the sun should be greenlit.

 

[wipeout364]

I enjoyed both games. The Mars one felt a bit more janky and had a pretty depressing storyline. Really sad to hear the company is done, they had some pretty good story telling abilities.

 

[Three]

No one comment about the gdc ? Where they make business the devs now that even the e3 is closed?

What's happened to GDC? It's not canned like E3 is it?

 

[nikolino840]

What's happened to GDC? It's not canned like E3 is it?

I was talking about this part

because of nothing substantial materializing directly after our visit to GDC,”

We see those conferences just for seeing trailer but I think for them even the e3 was for business meeting

 

[Gamerguy84]

Frim your opening title I thought this was going to be a game and it all went straight to hell.

 

[damidu]

shame, though have to admit second game fell pretty short to build on the promising first one
they wanted to add scope, ended up magnifying their jank in the process